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Four-year-old pooch Biff was handpicked from dozens of others Boxers to play Buster - chosen for his "expressive" face, and he's not the only animal in the promo.

Alongside him are computer-generated stars - two foxes, a badger, a squirrel and even a hedgehog who has ventured out of hibernation - who enjoy a late-night bouncing session on the new trampoline in front of grump Buster who is stuck inside before he gets a turn on Christmas morning.

The retailer has aimed for a sense of fun in this year's campaign, after 2016 had proved to be “quite a year”, and comes after it acknowledged that last year’s Man On The Moon was “a bit sad”.

Set to a magical cover of Randy Crawford’s 1980 jazz hit One Day I'll Fly Away by London electronic group Vaults, who recorded it at Abbey Road studios with a 70-strong choir and 66-piece orchestra - with vocals from lead signer Blythe Pepino.

The Wildlife Trust are this year’s charity partners for the campaign and will receive a 10 per cent of every £15 soft Buster or £12 soft Halle the hedgehog, Betsy the badger, Otto the fox or Sid the squirrel sold.

Buster fans will also be able to buy pyjamas, Buster’s Christmas - a children’s story book for £9.99 and download Buster images on Snapchat to transform faces into a dog face.

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Craig Inglis, customer director at John Lewis, said: “2016 has certainly been quite a year, so we hope our advert will make people smile. It really embraces a sense of fun and magic, reminding everyone what it feels like to give the perfect gift at Christmas.

The ad, named Buster The Boxer, was created by adam&eveDDB and directed by Dougal Wilson, who also the mastermind behind three previous John Lewis Christmas ads.

In 2011, ‘The Wait’ centred on a little boy who couldn’t wait for Christmas Day to come - so his could give his parents their presents.

He also directed The Journey in 2012, the touching tale of a snowman who goes to great lengths to find Mrs Snowman the perfect present - a scarf and gloves which were left off when building her and also the heartwarming story of Monty the penguin in 2014.

John Lewis declined to put a price on the ad, saying only that its budget was similar to previous years.

Last year it spent £1million on putting the campaign together and another £6million on television slots.

The ad launched at 8am today and the full version on television at around 9.15pm on ITV1.